A computing system may include multiple application programs, and these application programs may execute upon startup of the computing system or upon the computing system receiving user input to launch the application programs. For example, a display of the computing system may present multiple icons that each corresponds to a respective application program. A user can select one of the icons (e.g., by clicking with a mouse or touching the icon with the user's finger) to launch the corresponding application program. An application program may be a computer program that a computing system can execute. For example, the application program may include instructions that are encoded in a computer-readable device and that one or more processors of the computing system can execute.
The application programs may come pre-loaded with the computing system when a user purchases the system or may be added to the computing system at the request of the user. An example technique for adding an application to the computing system includes inserting a compact disc that contains an installation file for the application program. The user may select the installation files in order to prompt the computing system to install the application program.
A user may also add application programs to the computing system through the use of a network-accessible application program software marketplace. In some examples, the application program software marketplace may be a web site that allows users to browse through a list of application programs that are able to be installed on the users' computing systems.
A user can elect to install or execute specific application programs that are presented by the application program software marketplace. In response, the application program software marketplace may provide one or more application program installation or executable files for receipt by the user's computing system. Upon the computing system receiving the installation files, the computing system may decompress information that is stored within the installation files and configure the computing system for operation of the application programs.
A computing system may use, at request of an application program, resources that correspond to that computing system. Such resources can include, for example, central processing unit (CPU) cycles, computing system energy or battery consumption, wireless network data usage, and text messages. A computing system's resources may be costly or limited. For example, a computing system's use of a wireless network may be metered, for example, by a wireless network service provider. A user of the computing system may be billed for use of the wireless network for each unit of bandwidth used, or for each unit of bandwidth used above a data cap. Similarly, a computing system may have a limited amount of battery power that is available before the computing system may require a recharge, and may have a limited level of processing that the computing system may expend over a given period of time.